Do you remember your first date with your spouse? I bet you were excited, nervous, scared, and a little nauseous all at the same time—like me. You couldn’t wait to get to know this person and pursue them. You probably dropped most of the money you had to make the night special.
Although I hope your relationship has grown since that first date, you should never grow out of pursuing your spouse—the one who you have committed your life to. A great way to pursue your spouse is to have a regular date night together. And before you say no, know that you don’t have to break the bank to do it. In fact, you don’t even have to leave your home or spend money at all! Let me give you four at-home date ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
1. Themed dinner. My wife, Kristen, and I love going to Mexican Restaurants. But let’s be honest, If you’re going out for dinner, you are going to drop $30-$40 at least (that is, if you are doing it right with quac and that white, liquid gold called cheese dip.) Why not make dinner together at home? Buy the best store-bought cheese dip you can, like Gordo’s Cheese Dip (look up what gordo means in Spanish and it will boost your self-esteem as you eat it). You could also buy a couple of avocados and a spice packet to make some delicious guac! Throw on some Mariachi music on YouTube and you’re golden! You’ll get extra points if you watch a great, Mexican themed movie on Netflix or Disney+ like Coco.
2. Game Night. Let’s be honest, you have old board games that you don’t play. And if you don’t, your neighbor or one of your friends does. Give life to your relationship by pulling out those old classics you played as a kid, like: Guess Who?, Clue, and Battleship. Tell stories together of when you used to play them. If you need a week-long date night to catch up on your lack of date nights, just bust out Monopoly.
3. Go Dancing. If you’re like me, you get embarrassed by your two left feet when you think about dancing with your spouse in public. What better time and place to dance then at your own home where no one else is watching! Pull up some music on your phone or tv and dance to a couple of songs (like your first dance song from your wedding) or just dance the night away together!
4. Virtual scavenger hunt. In such a screen heavy world, why not leverage that technology for a date night? Go on a virtual scavenger hunt. Choose 10 things each of you have to find online in 30 minutes or less. Be near each other so you can see each other’s reactions as you search. Here are a handful of ideas of things you could search for: the most expensive thing on Amazon, the most useless thing on Amazon, the weirdest thing you can buy on Amazon, favorite YouTube video, ugliest website, favorite article about marriage, etc. While you are searching online for crazy things, put a simple dessert in the oven to bake. Once the dessert is ready, share what you found with each other, and let the good times roll as you laugh at the interesting things each of you find.
Just because life gets busier and more expensive doesn’t mean you can’t continue to date your spouse. The keyword with dating your spouse is intentionality! Why not be intentional now and plan an at-home date night sometime in the next week?
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